A security researcher has developed techniques for reverse engineering the firmware in a popular line of network cards, potentially opening the door for a future hardware-based rootkit.

Guillaume Delugré, a researcher with Sogeti ESEC Research and Development, has detailed his efforts of reverse engineering the firmware of Broadcom's NetExtreme network cards on the company's website, but warns that the techniques he has developed could be used by ne'er-do-wells to produce near-undetectable rootkits to attack future computers.